Ministry of Rites.
Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites who has just taken up his new post, has a headache today. The reason is of course Gao Pragmatic's "Please open the vassal ban".
It stands to reason that the matter of being highly pragmatic is relatively unethical for Xu Xuemo, because apart from the clan government, the issue of vassalage was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites in the imperial court. As the Minister of Military Affairs of the Ministry of War, Gao Pingshi's lack of care is a bit like a dog trying to meddle in others' affairs.
If you are a scientific officer, then that's fine. You, a minister of the Ministry of War, are interfering in the affairs of my Ministry of Etiquette. Do you regard me, the eldest uncle, in your eyes?
Oh, sorry, this really doesn’t exist.
What annoyed Xu Xuemo was first of all: Gao Pragmatic really didn't take him seriously. Although he, Xu Butang, is quite senior, having been a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing reign, he is at least seven or eight steps ahead of Gao Jingshi, but qualifications also depend on how and when they are compared.
He, Xu Butang, is so senior. He has worked hard in the imperial court for decades, and he has just been promoted from minister to minister. However, he is a highly pragmatic person who has been on the gold list for eight years in Wanli. Now he is already a minister. How can this compare? Comparing them really makes people short of breath, so it’s better not to compare them.
In addition to qualifications, courtiers can only be compared with merit and holy family members, and at most they can add scholarly prestige. But Xu Xuemo dared not compare these three items.
In terms of merit, Gao Pragmatism is the one who makes peace in the north; in terms of holy family members, Gao Pragmatism is unparalleled in the world; in terms of prestige, he is the number one scholar among the six leaders. Even the urgent news that just came out said that the cabinet unanimously evaluated Gao Pragmatism as "the most courageous scholar in the world." Is this even more bullshit?
But in fact, in addition to these three things, Xu Xuemo knew that there was another thing that he could not compare with Gao Pragmatic the most: power.
Who is a highly pragmatic person? That was the number one figure in the Real School of Xu State who could not be suppressed by even the most prominent ministers. He was the legacy of three generations of chief ministers and was able to negotiate face to face with Shen Yuanfu.
Where is he Xu Xuemo? Even the current eldest uncle was obtained through the secret planning of Shen Yuanfu through his connections with the township party, and through clever plunder from the former minister Pan Sheng.
In this way, Gao Pragmatic would certainly not take Xu Xuemo seriously. Perhaps in others' eyes, the only one in the Heart School who could be called an opponent was Shen Yuanfu, and the rest were not worth mentioning.
So Xu Xuemo could only swallow this breath and force himself to think about more important things.
What's more important is what attitude the Ministry of Rites should take under Gao Pragmatic's actions, whether to agree or oppose, or to sit on the sidelines.
He first ruled out sitting on the sidelines. After all, the issue of vassalage is the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites. Others can still consider not saying anything until the matter becomes clear. However, the Ministry of Rites obviously cannot do this. Otherwise, if the emperor asks at that time, can the Ministry of Rites still say "we are neutral outsiders" Can't?
The rest is a matter of approval or disapproval. In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Xu Xuemo agreed to take action against the vassal. Although Gao Pragmatic's move today seemed to be too big and too radical in any case, and might cause trouble, but his Xu Xuemo still agrees with the idea. Those five measures can be regarded as the right medicine.
But when it comes to the affairs of the imperial court, how can you say that you can definitely express your approval if you agree with it in your heart? Gao pragmatic's move today completely took all the advantages. It can be said that in the future, as long as the imperial court takes action on the vassal issue, no matter to what extent it takes action and how many achievements are achieved, in the final analysis, it will not be able to escape the credit of Gao Pragmatic's initiative. It goes without saying that the first credit goes to Gao Pragmatism, that is, to the school of pragmatism.
In this case, where should I place the School of My Heart? Are you just willing to give someone a hard time and beat them up?
And there is another trouble at the moment, that is, the last news coming from the cabinet is that the five cabinet elders have gone to see the emperor together, but it does not say the position that the cabinet elders finally negotiated.
This is a big trouble. The Ministry of Rites, as the yamen in charge of the sect's affairs, is currently waiting for the Ministry of Rites to express its position, but Shen Yuanfu has not sent any news to him. Xu Xuemo knew that he should spread some rumors at this moment to appease the officials, but he really did not dare to overstep his authority, lest he misunderstood Shen Yuanfu's original intention and it would be completely ruined.
By practicing Tai Chi, he sent away the fourth group of Xinxue school officials who secretly sent people to inquire about the Ministry of Etiquette. Xu Xuemo was so anxious that he walked around the room. While sending people to quietly ask for the latest news in the palace, he also sent people out to understand the movements of various yamen. .
Among the various yamen, the Ministry of Industry must be the quietest. After all, sects and vassals have nothing to do with them. The original relationship with them was that when the newly crowned prince or county king might need the Ministry of Works to arrange for the construction of the palace, but at this time, the Ministry of Works was just a person who did things. If there was something available, it would be done, and if it was not available, it would not be done. It didn't matter much.
The reaction from the Ministry of Punishment was not great. Although the problem of clan crimes has become increasingly serious in recent years, since clan crimes generally do not have the involvement of the Ministry of Punishment or even the Department of Three Laws, and are dealt with first by the clan government, the Ministry of Punishment’s attitude towards this matter is It’s also absolutely necessary.
Just because once the imperial court opens the vassal ban according to the proposal of "Please open the vassal ban", a large number of low-level clans will be transferred to the Ministry of Punishment to deal with their crimes, so now some people in the Ministry of Punishment have begun to wonder whether they can take this opportunity. Apply to the court for more funds? ——Clan cases are definitely more difficult to deal with. Isn’t it natural for us to need more funds?
The response from the Ministry of War was average. Except for the Qing Li Department, which was the official department of the Ministry of War, there was basically no reaction from the other departments.
As for why the Qing officials were excited, it was actually simple - this department was responsible for maps, military systems, city gods, garrisoning, conciseness, and conquests. In other words, they are responsible for formulating battle plans.
Uh... are you guys too busy to draw up a battle plan now?
In fact, this is not the case. The Jinfang Division is actually formulating a battle plan now, and the goals are very broad. All the vassals of more than twenty princes have been labeled as possible rebels, and then they are conducting deductions within the Jinfang Division.
But that's not the most interesting thing. What's interesting is that in the deduction, the main force representing the imperial court is no longer the guards and border troops garrisoned in various places, but the newly formed Imperial Guards.
In various deductions, the Imperial Guards were used as the main force of the imperial court's expedition, but only two to three towns were used each time, which was about 20,000 to 30,000 people. This is understandable. After all, the Imperial Guard is now the only field force in the Beijing camp. It is used by the imperial court to intimidate the world. It is difficult to send them all out just to suppress the rebellion.
You must know that they are not the previous Beijing camp. There is no such thing as "400,000". They only have a total of 60,000 troops. They cannot be joked about easily.
Xu Xuemo only thought this reaction from the Ministry of War was ridiculous. In his opinion, this was simply a sign of overeating. Which vassal king could be stupid enough to rebel? Don’t you know how many pounds you have? At most, it will just cause some trouble, and then it will be nothing more than a slow quarrel with the court. How can there be a war?
What's more, even if there is a war, Xu Xuemo doesn't think the Imperial Guards have any chance to fight. The important vassal kings in the north are basically surrounded by border troops, and they are afraid that they will be reported to the capital before they announce the army. Although there are no border troops around the vassal kings in the south, they are too far away. The suppression must have been handled by the local governor and troops from the town. How could we wait for the imperial guards to be sent from the capital? By the time the Imperial Guards arrived, the day lilies were cold.
The reaction of the officials was relatively normal. All the officials expressed their support for the ban. Well, the Ministry of Personnel is the headquarters of the Practical School, so this reaction is not surprising. Xu Xuemo ignored the report after hearing the report.
Among the six divisions, only the Hu division is left. The attitude of the Ministry of Household Affairs was much more intense. Not only were everyone talking about it, but they also had different opinions. Some people say that Gao Gongbao is indeed a big spender this time, so the pressure on the household department is suddenly relieved a lot, and finally he no longer has to have a bitter face all day long; some say that although Gao Gongbao's hand is big, he still gives it to the court or to the government. The Tian family saved their face and did not catch all the princes and princes, especially Prince Lu...
The implication is that these officials are still wary of King Lu, who is "about to become a vassal". They don't understand why Gao Gongbao still wants to keep this tail and refuses to cut off since he has already made such a generous move.
According to their thinking, it is of course best to do it all at once. The so-called "viewing of the vassals" like Prince Lu should be used as an example to strictly limit it - how much more will he spend on Prince Lu's mansion? What to do with King Jing’s legacy?
Of course, those who held these ideas were basically lower-ranking officials. They didn't even get wind of it, and they didn't know that Gao Pragmatic persuaded King Lu to give up King Jing's legacy.
In fact, in addition to the six departments, there is another yamen that really shows the most intense attitude, and that is the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The reaction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was even more exaggerated than that of the Ministry of Revenue. A large number of officials gathered together and shouted. Some excitedly said that Gao Gongbao was indeed the "world's most daring scholar" and dared to raise the issue of vassalage as an important official of the imperial court, and even made such a big move right away; some went even further, saying that everyone should hurry up and prepare to support Gao Gongbao. Gongbao, in order to make this matter a big deal so that the emperor would not dare to delay the decision because of the "kiss".
Some people even suggested that we all should be more decisive and go to the Meridian Gate to "knock on the palace" together, forcing the emperor to come forward in person, "give the world an explanation" and agree to lift the vassal ban on the spot.
There are so many kinds.
All in all, the imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were extremely excited, and each one of them shouted that they wanted to participate, "I would like to attach my tail and join in the grand event!"
The Department of Science and Technology officials have always been in close contact, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate was so excited that the Sixth Department was certainly not immune to the situation. Some even ran away from the palace (the office of the Sixth Department was in the palace, not far from the cabinet), and The censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate discussed together how to expand their momentum and support Gao Gongbao's "righteous act."
Well, the reason why it was a righteous act was, of course, that in theory Gao Pragmatic didn't care about it, and he should have done it "out of righteous indignation." Gao Gongbao, who doesn't care about this matter, has stepped forward. How can we, the public officials who oversee everything in the world, lag behind others?
These excited science and technology officials were really unambiguous. They asked people to find pen and ink on the spot, splash ink and write a memorial in support of Gao Gongbao, and then asked everyone who would like to sign a joint name.
At this moment, the crowd was excited, so we definitely couldn't pretend to be dumbfounded, so no matter whether we were really excited or not, everyone put on a righteous and awe-inspiring look, and rushed forward to write on the memorial. Write your name.
It didn't take long for the memorial to be signed by more than a hundred censors and the names of the subjects was completed. It probably set two records in the Ming Dynasty: the most names signed by Ke Dao officials, and the fastest completion of the memorial. .
The only problem now is that it has already passed the time for Shangshu. Theoretically speaking, at this time, the General Affairs Department has begun to prepare to receive the Holy Shangzhu approval issued by the Secretary of Rites.
But it doesn't matter, none of you here are ordinary people, especially those in the Sixth Section, who are patting their chests and guaranteeing that they will be able to send this memorial directly to you.
This is not bragging. The Six Sections have their own special characteristics. Not only do they work in the palace, but they have been in the palace for a long time and have become familiar with the Supervisor of Ceremonies. They directly deliver things to the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Not surprising either.
As for procedural issues... It's time for this. Almost all the scientific and technical officials have signed and attached the memorandum. They have the right to send it directly to you because of their emotions and reasons! Are you kidding me about the privileges of the Ming Dynasty's science and technology officials?
So the six subjects immediately hurried to the palace with a joint memorial.
When the news reached the Ministry of Rites, Xu Xuemo was so anxious that he could not wait to go directly to the palace to find Shen Yuanfu for advice. At this moment, he suddenly thought of something: Why did Gao Pragmatic suddenly get involved in the affairs of the Ministry of Rites?
Suspicious, Xu Xuemo had a suspicion: Could it be that Gao Pragmatic was dissatisfied with the position of eldest uncle he had obtained from Pan Sheng, so he took action on the vassal issue, a matter directly under the control of the Ministry of Rites, in order to give himself a beating? Caught off guard, the emperor felt that he, the eldest uncle, was extremely incompetent, and then tried to find a way to impeach him?
As soon as this idea came up, he couldn't stop it. Xu Xuemo even thought that once things really develop like this, it would be a huge crisis for Shen Yuanfu.
Originally, Shen Yuanfu not only wanted to win the Ministry of Rites, but also wanted to win Pan Sheng's position in the cabinet at that time. Although the cabinet quota has not been obtained, the minister of the Ministry of Rites has been obtained at least. But if Gao Pragmatic's "treacherous plot" succeeds, won't the Ministry of Rites be lost again? If this is the case, wouldn't Shen Yuanfu's half a year's time be completely wasted? After wandering around for a long time, I suddenly returned to the starting point.
Thinking of this, Xu Xuemo actually broke into a cold sweat in the middle of winter, and his whole back was soaked with sweat.
He couldn't bear it anymore and immediately left the Rites Yamen. Regardless of the officials around him who came up to inquire about his attitude, they all refused with a cold face. Then he hurriedly got into the green sedan and headed directly towards the palace.
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PS: I can't log in to the starting point on the computer, saying that I have network problems. It is very inconvenient to publish books on the mobile phone now, so yesterday's reward and monthly ticket acknowledgment will be posted together tomorrow, sorry.
